The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by LadyTevar »

Eternal_Freedom wrote: 2018-08-22 12:52pm Some good points. I did make mention of another group of Ascended in a distant galaxy that took notice of the MW, Pegasus and Ida while the other Ascended were busy containing the false vacuum collapse. I'd intended them to be the Ori, and indeed their Priors are turning up, but using Iblis would be...intriguing. Fnord makes a good point re time travel though.
Count Iblis as a Ori. There's an idea. I like it. Run with it.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

LadyTevar wrote: 2018-08-22 06:36pm
Eternal_Freedom wrote: 2018-08-22 12:52pm Some good points. I did make mention of another group of Ascended in a distant galaxy that took notice of the MW, Pegasus and Ida while the other Ascended were busy containing the false vacuum collapse. I'd intended them to be the Ori, and indeed their Priors are turning up, but using Iblis would be...intriguing. Fnord makes a good point re time travel though.
Count Iblis as a Ori. There's an idea. I like it. Run with it.
Maybe not an Ori per se...but I don't think anyone has ever stated it was only the Lantean Ascended and the Ori kicking about on the higher planes - the universe is a big place after all. And Janus has already shown that they can travel between universes - I had intended him to have ridden along with the Terran ships, but maybe these other guys can do...more.

Ok, that concludes this month's musing on the Greater Scope Villain. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter posted tomorrow.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Running in Place
Covenant Fleet of Divine Purpose, approaching Earth
Ninth Age of Reclamation


In the command centre of the Assault Carrier Solemn Penance floated the High Prophet of Regret, serenely observing his personal fleet as they approached the world that held the Portal, a key step in the Great Journey. Regret was a true believer in the Covenant faith, beginning the Great Journey would see them leave this primitive world behind and ascend to become Gods. If the hundreds of thousands of Sanghelli warriors and other lesser races had to be sacrificed to keep the cursed humans distracted then so be it. Truth had been correct; they would soon have no need of ships or warriors.

This was a dream he had been chasing for a long time. Learning that the humans were the true Reclaimers had been a body blow, but again Truth had been right – they would destroy the humans and forge their own fate. They would be the Gods, not the humans. The world they approached, now just over thirty light-years distant as humans reckoned it was not known to be a human-controlled world though it was in the area the humans claimed as theirs. As such his fleet was running in under full combat protocols – shields were raised and all weapons were charged and ready to fire.

One of his officers, an Ultra who was supervising the sensor crews turned to him and looked him straight in the eye in the Sanghelli way.

“Hierarch, sensors report a substantial slipspace distortion ahead. It appears to be artificial; the disrupting emissions are similar to Forerunner technology. It will substantially slow our progress as we traverse the distorted area. I recommend we drop out of slipspace and investigate this phenomenon.”

Regret weighed the possibilities in his mind. It would mean a delay in reaching the Portal but any active Forerunner devices had to be investigated. Something that could distort slipspace and slow interstellar travel could prove of paramount importance.

“Very well. Take us into the distortion area and drop us into realspace within firing range of the focal point. Prepare boarding teams. If it is a Forerunner artefact the Day of Jubilation will remain to investigate further while we proceed to the target world. If it is a human device we will destroy it and move on.”

The staff jumped to obey his orders. In a few moments the fleet entered the distortion effects and Regret could feel the change – the subtle rumble of the slipspace drives changed in pitch, becoming higher and more strained as the engines struggled to overcome the unknown distortions. The ships slowed radically, it was as if they were suddenly trying to fly through water rather than empty space.

The fleet’s speed was reduced to a crawl, barely faster than the cursed human’s own crude slipspace drives. But even that vastly-reduced speed was still many times faster than light and in a matter of seconds the fleet dropped back into realspace, within spitting distance of the tiny ship at the focal point of the strange effect. The sensors also showed the strong human force that dominated both flanks, but that was irrelevant for the moment.

The Ultra reported again, likewise ignoring the other enemy vessels, they were known threats, but the small ship had never been seen before. “It appears to be a small human vessel. Its type is unknown but the design is similar to the new small escorts that have been defending human worlds recently. I am detected active shield grids and charged weapons but their threat rating is minimal. All fleet vessels report they have target lock.”

Regret did not hesitate a moment. “Fire.”

Warstar Nemesis Fleet Ops Centre,
Moments Earlier


Jellicoe and Davies stood at the central plot table watching the approaching red icons with great anticipation. The senior Admiral’s late-night conversation with Prometheus (and part of his mind still rebelled at the lunacy of that idea) had reinvigorated the man, renewing his sense of purpose and banishing his doubts and fears. Part of his mind laboured over the problem that the Lord had alluded to, the greater threat lurking in the shadows but most of his attention was focused on the matter at hand.

His entire force was deployed for this ambush, apart from the Tau’ri contingent that was helping with UNSC defences elsewhere. Nemesis and her group held position above the lone Explorer while First Fleet was lying in wait off to port and Third Fleet held the starboard flank. The incoming Covenant force was decidedly small in comparison to the forces they had faced recently leaving Jellicoe to suspect this was a reconnaissance-in-force. Maybe they didn’t know Earth was the UNSC homeworld, but they clearly believed there was something of value there.

The display also showed the area affected by the hyperspace jammer. No one was quite sure how the jammer system would interact with Covenant slipspace drives, but it was theorised that it would be similar to how it affected hyperdrives – pulling them back into realspace and preventing them from jumping away. It was the most logical outcome as the physicists had proved that what the Covenant and UNSC called “slipspace” was another strata of hyperspace, one that the Ancients, Asgard, Goa’uld and Wraith had never bothered exploring.

The senior sensor officer handled the countdown. “Covenant fleet will reach distortion field in ten seconds.”

Jellicoe nodded. “All ships prepare to engage.”

“Five…four. Three…two…one…no emergence, ships still in slipspace but slowing rapidly…slipspace rupture detected! Five thousand kilometres from Excellent!”

Iron Duke needed no time at all to react. “All ships open fire!”

The various Commanders and Captains shouted orders to open fire but it was far too late to prevent what was about to happen.

Jellicoe called up a visual feed just in time to see energy projector beams lash out from the sixteen Covenant vessels and strike the Explorer’s shields. The ship was sturdy but was not built for battle, the shields were almost an afterthought in the class’ design process; installed as a matter of course but never intended to stand up to heavy enemy fire.

The protective barriers flared read for a half-second before failing under the focused power of the energy projectors. The white beams were powerful weapons, equivalent to the Ancient Satellite Weapons and more than capable of cutting heavily-armoured ships and stations in half. There was very little in the human fleet that could stand up to such concentrated firepower, the Explorer class ships were not among that short list.

The hull armour evaporated at the numerous points of impact. The white beams punched deep into the ship’s structure before emerging on the far side of the hull, the intervening armour, pressurised compartments and structural elements barely impeding their progress.

In a matter of moments the Excellent was wrecked and almost all of her crew killed. Every deck was open to space; the FTL system, the sublight drives, the shield generators, the sensor arrays and the main battery were all destroyed. The hyperspace jammer deep in her hull were speared by one chance beam and the contained energies were released, shredding what was left of the ship even as one of the main reactors detonated, the double explosion consumed the small vessel utterly leaving nothing behind.

The destruction of the hyperspace jammer had a curious secondary effect. It sent out a powerful, uncontrolled distortion pulse in all directions, temporarily disabling the FTL drives of the entire Alliance task force. For at least a few hours they were stranded.
Jellicoe blinked away the fury at seeing another of his ships die. He glared at the Covenant vessels even as the Warstar’s superlaser fired, joined by another shot from the Phoenix. The beams lanced out and struck two of the three Assault Carriers, shattering them in an instant. Megalaser beams and turbolaser bolts likewise raced out from his assembled ships to begin battering at the remaining vessels.

The lone Assault Carrier and the thirteen battlecruisers returned fire, a vast salvo of plasma torpedoes heading straight for First Fleet and in particular Battle Group Illustrious.

Aboard the Solemn Penance

Regret grinned in satisfaction as the small human vessel was obliterated, their first kill against these new designs. A good start, but they needed to destroy one of the larger ships as well to prove they were not invulnerable. He selected at random one such vessel in the group on his right flank for all the ships to focus their fire on. He had barely given the order when the two largest vessels fired their devastating main weapons and the other two Assault Carriers in his fleet died in an instant. The massive plasma salvo was fired though and the battlecruisers and his own ship turned towards the targeted vessel at full thrust, aiming to close the range and prevent the other human group from firing on him for fear of hitting their own ships.

The four capital ships they approached continued firing their own plasma weapons, red bolts and beams slamming into his vessels even as they charged onwards. The smaller weapons were powerful but not decisively so and the damage was acceptable.

The Battlestar Illustrious was having a very bad day. Her shields were strong but she was about to be hit by over a hundred plasma torpedoes, weapons that could wreck UNSC frigates in a single hit. With the FTL drives unexpectedly disabled by the destruction of the hyperspace jammer any sort of combat jump to evade the enemy fire was impossible, they would just have to stand and take it.

The first dozen plasma torpedoes impacted on the Battlestar’s shields moments later. The searing plasma spread out from the points of impact, splashing across the defensive screens like water thrown at a brick wall. The shields themselves glowed a deep red as they redirected the burning energies elsewhere. But even now the strain was showing, and there were dozens more plasma torpedoes incoming. A second group struck then a third and a fourth. The shields were strained to breaking point, resisting a weapon their designers had never conceived of.

The fifth volley of plasma fire finally breached the shields and several shots impacted on the hull armour. The effect was similar to hitting the shields; the plasma spread out across the armour plates even as the thermally-superconductive material spread the incredible energy out over a wider and wider area. The entire hull glowed blue for a few seconds and crewmembers within the armour belt found themselves flung to the deck as the ship bucked beneath their feet.

It was not a one-sided contest however. While First Fleet and the Illustrious in particular were drawing the fire of the Covenant force, Third Fleet and the Nemesis had swung around and chased after the Covenant battlecruisers at full thrust. They would be the hammer for First Fleet’s anvil. Already four of the thirteen enemy battlecruisers had lost their shields to the punishing turbolaser and megalaser strikes. Even as the hull armour on Illustrious finally failed in a half-dozen places two of those Covenant battlecruisers erupted into fire and debris as their main reactors received fatal hits from Eridanus and Warspite.

Aboard the Solemn Penance, Regret was feeling ambivalent about the engagement. Two Assault Carriers dead in moments, a pair of battlecruisers gone as well and two or three more soon to follow them. But one of the enemy capital ships was now at his mercy and the slipspace distortion had faded with the destruction of that first small ship. His orders rang out.

“Ready all Energy Projectors to fire on the primary target. The rest of the Fleet will continue the attack and draw fire away from us. We will pass through the human formation, firing the Energy Projectors as we pass the enemy and then jump to slipspace on a heading for the target world. We must locate the Portal, this enemy force cannot be allowed to delay us!”

The assembled Sanghelli roared their approval even as a third battlecruiser was blasted into fragments by the combined efforts of Lionheart and Temeraire. The Assault Carrier shuddered as its own shields withstood a volley of heavy missiles from the Nemesis – only a few missiles had impacted though, the pulse lasers had done their usual spectacular work in intercepting the cursed human projectiles.

The Ultra commanding the ship’s combat systems shouted out a report. “All Energy Projectors charged and ready to fire on primary target, we will pass them in twenty seconds. Our shields are holding at two-thirds strength, the human nuclear weapons seem to be even more powerful than normal. “

Regret filed that away for future reference. “All of our plasma turrets will engage the larger human vessel to our left side, let us spread the holy fire around a little.”

The Ultra bowed his head a fraction in obedience. The moment had come, the huge bulk of the Solemn Penance roared past the comparatively tiny Illustrious and her even smaller escorts. All seven energy projector beams fired as one, the white beams flashing out in perfect synchronisation.

Three of the beams never reached their intended target. Instead they slammed into the destroyer Renegade with colossal force, the focused and contained energy quickly breaching the shield grids and burning deep into the hull. The starboard megalaser pod was sheared away by one beam, the port sublight drives were gutted by a second. The third beam punched right through the ship’s midsection, opening every deck to vacuum and disabling half of the main naquada reactors. The hapless destroyer, which had been moving in for an attack run to distract the Covenant from the wounded Illustrious was left with crippling damage, but she could still be saved.

The other four deadly white beams struck the armoured hull of the Battlestar and punched through. One beam struck a glancing blow to the ship’s bow section, utterly wrecking the outer-port megalaser but doing little else. A second beam blew clean through the ship’s midsection, leaving a fifty-metre wide hole through every deck but missing any critical systems and remarkably not hurting any of the crew.

The third and fourth beams would be much more devastating. One of them struck the port flight pod, just forward of the first pylon linking the structure to the main hull and sheared off the entire forward section of the pod, leaving the hanger decks awash in flame as Cobras on ready-alert status exploded in sympathy. The fourth and final beam impacted on the ship’s aft, destroying the portside main sublight engine and forcing the starboard engine into an emergency shutdown to avoid detonating from the energy backlash in the engineering spaces.

The Solemn Penance roared past and headed out into free space, her plasma turrets having fired their own salvo at the Phoenix as it punched through First Fleet. The heavyweight Battlestar withstood the attack with only strained shields, her own guns returned the favour with a thundering cannonade of turbolaser fire into the Assault Carrier’s flank.

Before any of the human ships could think about turning to pursue, the surviving Assault Carrier opened a massive slipspace portal and vanished into it, once more heading for Earth. The eight surviving battlecruisers pressed their attack on First Fleet, but with the Phoenix, Lionheart and Temeraire moving to physically shield the badly wounded Illustrious and the Warstar and Third Fleet closing on them from the rear, their fate was sealed.

The Renegade would not survive. An opportunistic Shipmaster fired three more plasma torpedoes into the badly-hurt destroyer, the searing fire burning away more and more of the hull until there was nothing left at all. The entire crew went down with their ship. The Illustrious was more fortunate; her damage was severe but not crippling and her remaining guns maintained their fire even as her sister ships acted as a second set of shields.

One, then two and finally a third Covenant battlecruiser exploded under the concentrated fire of the Battlestars. Another battlecruiser at the rear of their formation spun away wildly, completely out of control as her main engines were shot to pieces by the vengeful Galactica and Pegasus.

The four surviving ships continued to move at full acceleration, now intending to ram the damaged Battlestar and take their enemies with them. Their suicidal charge was still born as two ships evaporated under the deadly fire of the superlasers, while a third ship was blown in half by a concentrated megalaser barrage from the Warstar. The final ship died as the dozen cruisers and twenty-three remaining destroyers pummelled it relentlessly with turbolaser fire, the hailstorm of red bolts shattering every armour panel and breaching every compartment. The Covenant ship was dead already but the human crews kept firing until nothing but debris remained.

On the Nemesis, Jellicoe sagged against the plot table as the adrenaline began to fade. The immediate aftermath of a battle was something that always took its toll on him. Nonetheless after a moment’s pause he began issuing orders.

“Get medics and DC teams over to the Illustrious and get the engineers started on fixing the FTL drives. Signal Earth that one enemy ship got passed us and is heading there, ETA nine hours. Where is Commodore Baird and the Tau’ri force?”

Davies checked a screen before answering. “With a UNSC force responding to a Covenant attack on Avalon. They can get to Earth in time to intercept that Assault Carrier. It’ll be a hard fight but with all those ODP’s as a backstop they can do it.”

Jellicoe nodded. “Good, order them to divert to Earth immediately at best speed. Inform UNSC HighCom on Reach that our force is temporarily disabled and we may need the Yardships to come and fix us up.”

Davies looked glum at that. “Hood won’t be happy with that news; they want their ships upgraded as soon as possible. Not much he can do about it I suppose. You think that Cole, Keyes and Harper managed to take out their targets?”

Jellicoe looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. Cole and Keyes, definitely. They’re only facing a pair of scouts, no match for their forces. Richard however, he might have a harder fight even if New Vegas does have a dozen ODP’s to back him up. I just hope they don’t lose any more ships, we’re strained to breaking point as it is.”

Wayne nodded. “And these bastards seem to have an endless supply of ships as well. It’s like fighting the Wraith again. Too bad we don’t have another of those ZPM bombs to use.” His expression was contemplative as he voiced that thought.

Jellicoe glared at his subordinate briefly. “Not a chance Wayne. Those are weapons we can’t risk using again. Don’t forget there aren’t any Ascended Lords in this universe to contain the reaction. Omnicide is not something I want to even consider. Those UNSC Nova bombs on the other hand, I think we could find a good use for those.”

Wayne nodded, conceding the point. “An even bigger nuke…and people say we’re trigger happy in the TCN as it is.” The moment of levity was a welcome relief for both Admirals. They’d have to face the fire again soon enough, but for the moment they could only count the cost of this most recent fight.

=====

And we're back. There is probably one more chapter to finish out Act Three and then the battle of Reach can begin. This is where things start going wrong for the Kobolian forces, they got overconfident here and it hurt them. Illustrious will be limping back to Terra via the Ark for repairs, so until a replacement from Second Fleet can get to the Haloverse they're down a Battlestar.

Incidentally, this chapter brings the story up to 73,000 words and I only started writing it in mid-April. I'm not quite at NaNoWriMo levels but I'm doing pretty good given all the other shit I'm doing at the same time.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by fnord »

A few cleanups:

"Signal Earth that one enemy ship got passed us and is heading there"

... got past us and ....


"Nonetheless after a moment’s pause he began issuing orders."

Nonetheless, after a moment's pause, he...


"barely faster than the cursed human’s own crude slipspace"

barely faster than the cursed humans' own .... (plural possessive)
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Thanks, I've fixed those in my master copy for when/if I get around to cross-posting this to FF.net.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by InsaneTD »

You also missed the opening quote mark for Jellicoe replying to Davies about Keyes and Cole, fourth to last paragraph.


Awesome work. I love explosions I space.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by fnord »

E_F, when you're on final approach to cross-post this to FF.net, I'd be happy to do a cleanup pass on said master copy.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by B5B7 »

Eternal_Freedom wrote: 2018-08-22 06:46pm
LadyTevar wrote: 2018-08-22 06:36pm
Eternal_Freedom wrote: 2018-08-22 12:52pm Some good points. I did make mention of another group of Ascended in a distant galaxy that took notice of the MW, Pegasus and Ida while the other Ascended were busy containing the false vacuum collapse. I'd intended them to be the Ori, and indeed their Priors are turning up, but using Iblis would be...intriguing. Fnord makes a good point re time travel though.
Count Iblis as a Ori. There's an idea. I like it. Run with it.
Maybe not an Ori per se...but I don't think anyone has ever stated it was only the Lantean Ascended and the Ori kicking about on the higher planes - the universe is a big place after all. And Janus has already shown that they can travel between universes - I had intended him to have ridden along with the Terran ships, but maybe these other guys can do...more.

Ok, that concludes this month's musing on the Greater Scope Villain. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter posted tomorrow.
The truth reveals itself; you have given away the true identity of the behind-the-scenes manipulator. Greater Scope Villain = GSV.
The GSV is a rogue Culture GSV. :twisted: :evil: Just kidding. :)

A terrible battle result for the Alliance, even though they annihilated the enemy forces. The enemy can afford big losses, they can't.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by InsaneTD »

GSV GSV? :P That does sound like a GSV name too.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Spoiler alert: The real Greater Scope Villain, the secretive unseen force pulling the strings....

...is me. I made all those ships die. I killed them all! Turns out I'm pretty good at hiding in plain sight, mwahahaha.

Ahem...anyway. Thanks for the typo checks and fnord, I'll take you up on that when the time comes.

Yes this was a bad result, but like I said the Alliance got cocky. If you recall in the previous thread when I was hashing out story ideas I'd said that a Lionheart-class Battlestar was tactically equivalent to a CCS battlecruiser - Jellicoe just threw four such ships, plus the two Warspites and the two heavy Battlestars against 13 such opponents. Not good odds, but then again Jellicoe hasn't really dealt with the Covenant in a slugging match before - every battle so far has been "jump in, fire massive salvo, kill some enemy ships while others retreat." That and they assumed the hyperspace jammer would work on slipspace engines the same way it did on hyperdrives.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by fnord »

if that was the case, the damage control teams aboard TCS Fourth Wall would definitely have their work cut out for them.

Glad I can help a bit - even if I only catch half of the remaining typos, grammos, etc in the master.

Yes, overconfidence has bitten Jellicoe square in the gluteus maximus - at best, judging from previous equivalencies, four Lionhearts, two Warspites and two heavy battlestars works out to somewhat less than 16 battlestar equivalents (Nemesis was established as 5 battlestar equivalents iirc, and a heavy battlestar is overmatched by a warstar - would two such heavies count as roughly equal to a warstar?), so odds weren't really in Alliance favour.

Did Jellicoe et al have time to test the effect of jump interdiction on slipspace beforehand, or was that the live test?
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

That was the live test. Remember that Excellent showed up late, right as the Covvie general offensive began and the Alliance ships have been jumping hither and yon trying to stop the bleeding.

The two heavy Battlestars probably average out to one Warstar - the Warstar's main gun is twice as powerful as that on Phoenix, Eridanus doesn't have one and both ships combined have only twelve megalasers to the Nemesis' 20. Turbolaser and point-defence armament are about equal but for the Warstar those are secondary and tertiary weapons, not main armament. The Warstar also has a larger total fighter complement but not by much - 640 to 620 combined for the two heavys, but the Warstar has twice the number of Scythes and Scimitars (80 each, the two heavys carry one Scythe and one Scimitar squadron each). So if it came to a fight between the three, much would depend on who got the first superlaser shot in - neither Heavy Battlestar could survive a full-power shot while Nemesis can tank one hit from the lighter version on it's shields before they fail.

In pure combat power, the Nemesis has four times the turbolasers, four times the fighters, five times the megalasers, plus gunships, bombers, missiles batteries and the superlaser compared to a Lionheart. Add to that much stronger shields and more powerful generators and the Warstar is probably equal to six Battlestars on its own.

Jupiter, the second Warstar which will be appearing soon, is even more powerful than the Nemesis - she is to the Nemesis what the Phoenix is to the Lionhearts, or the Eridanus to the Warspites - a next-generation ship, bigger and more powerful.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Sky Captain »

Given the odds and the unexpected jammer failure to jam slipspace drives the battle wasn't that bad for Alliance. Two Assault carriers, and 13 battlecruisers for one destroyer, one explorer and one damaged Battlestar is victory by wide margin.

With all the damage done to Illustrious maybe it should be written off and replaced with Phoenix class. That superlaser is just so damn useful as alpha strike weapon to instantly take out heaviest enemy ships.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

You're right that in a pure numbers game Jellicoe and his fleet came out ahead - but the Covvies have ~160 Assault Carriers at this point and ~600 odd battlecruisers - this was everything Jellicoe had apart from a few Explorers, the two Yardships and the Tau'ri force. They simply cannot afford losses. Consider that the Alliance Force essentially has 10 capital ships with them - the Warstar, eight Battlestars and the Tau'ri HMS Dreadnought - they just had 10% of their capital ships put out of the fight until a replacement ship arrives from Terra. And don't forget until they can get their FTL's back up the entire force is stranded in deep space.

As for writing off Illustrious and replacing her with a new-build Phoenix - that is definitely the plan for any Lionhearts that are actually lost or damaged beyond repair, but Illustrious isn't that battered. She's about as hurt as Indomitable was in the fight with Ba'al - enough to require four to six months of drydock time but definitely not irreparable, and she could certainly be put back into service before a new ship is built. She is out of the story though, and a new ship, most likely Intrepid will be heading out - mainly because her CO, Commodore Fischer, is based on my former housemate who is reading this and is a tad disappointed that his guy hasn't done much in the sequel yet :)

The superlaser is indeed a major force multiplier, and I need the version on the new Jupiter to be even more potent as she's a 2nd generation Warstar. I have a plan for that though. Also I need a good motto for the Jupiter as well.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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InsaneTD
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by InsaneTD »

Maybe something to do with Jupiter's storms and strong winds?
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by fnord »

Whatever the Latin translation of "I kick ass therefore I am" works out to be?
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Eternal_Freedom
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Interesting idea....Badassio Ergo Sum :D
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by LadyTevar »

Eternal_Freedom wrote: 2018-08-26 04:33pm Also I need a good motto for the Jupiter as well.
Well, what was Jupiter to them? Are we talking Kobolian Ascended God? Mythical Ruler of Heaven, Sky God, Thrower of Thunderbolts? Horny Old Bastard?
....
Ok, Horny Bastard could be the 'nickname' like Big E or The Bucket. Or DOM -- Dirty Old Man. Hmm.. Dirty Old God? (the Dog who cheated?)

ANYWAY -- my suggestion is "Comes the Thunder", a nod to military slang 'bring the rain'.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by fnord »

Or, riffing off Tev's suggestion (if a bit Earth-centric, but genuine single-malt Scotch is now canonically available to at least Terran elites), "Reap the whirlwind" ?
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

"Reap the Whirlwind" sounds pretty good. "Comes the Thunder" is IMO too close to Pegasus' motto of "I Bring the Thunder."

As for who Jupiter was....ummm...shit. I'm gonna go with precursor to Zeus as the top of the epantheon, like Chronos was to Zeus in RL Greek myths. Which would work nicely given my tenative plans for how Iblis fits into things.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Dass.Kapital »

Wonderful tale.

As for possible motto?

"Hold fast. Hold strong."

"Surrender none."

Much cheers.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Sky Captain »

Will Jupiter have built in capability to rapid fire superlaser at lower power? For most targets it is far too overpowered. Being able to quickly take out multiple lighter ships would be highly desirable capability. If Phoenix could take out one Assault carrier then Jupiter should be able to demolish at least 3 if firing superlaser at 1/3 energy 3 times.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Let's just say I have a wicked-awesome plan for that :D I did say they would be learning lessons from the Nemesis, so the rapid/burst fire mode for the main gun is something that will be built-in.

And I think I previously stated that the current burst-fire modes for the Nemesis and Phoenix are 200 GT and 100GT yields respectively, maximum yield being 1000 GT and 500 GT. The ships can fire only 3 shots in burst-fire mode though - it may not use as much energy as a full-power shot, but you're still putting strain on capacitors and cooling systems, not to mention fire control and aligning the ship to the target (they're fixed weapons remember).
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by U.P. Cinnabar »

Jupiter's motto: Loose the fateful lightning.
"Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone amongst God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him, drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of Death.."
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Eternal_Freedom
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Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Ooooo that's a good one. I was mentaly toying with a variation of Cogito Ergo Sum, but replace Cogito with "I win" or "I triumph" or something similar.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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